IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acceur/v13y2016i1p1-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ownership Structure and Accounting Method Choice: A Study of European Real Estate Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Juha Mäki
  • Antonio Somoza-Lopez
  • Stefan Sundgren

Abstract

Companies can under IAS 40 Investment Properties choose between the fair value and the cost models. The fair value model arguably results in more relevant information but is also more costly to use. Based on studies suggesting that financial reports are a more important medium for communication with investors if ownership is dispersed, we hypothesize that the use of the fair value model is positively associated with ownership dispersion. We study European Real Estate firms and find support for this prediction. We also find a positive association between trade of shares and ownership dispersion, supporting the view that financial statements are less important if ownership concentration is high. Finally, we examine whether the choice depends on the identity of large owners. Companies with a financial company as the largest owner are somewhat more likely to choose the fair value model. Overall, the results indicate that accounting rules facilitating optional accounting policies have benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Juha Mäki & Antonio Somoza-Lopez & Stefan Sundgren, 2016. "Ownership Structure and Accounting Method Choice: A Study of European Real Estate Companies," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acceur:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:1-19
    DOI: 10.1080/17449480.2016.1154180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17449480.2016.1154180
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17449480.2016.1154180?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Choudhary, Preeti, 2011. "Evidence on differences between recognition and disclosure: A comparison of inputs to estimate fair values of employee stock options," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 77-94, February.
    2. Steven J. Carlson & Chenchuramaiah T. Bathala, 1997. "Ownership Differences and Firms' Income Smoothing Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 179-196.
    3. Astami, Emita W. & Tower, Greg, 2006. "Accounting-policy choice and firm characteristics in the Asia Pacific region: An international empirical test of Costly Contracting Theory," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 1-21.
    4. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    5. Horrace, William C. & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2006. "Results on the bias and inconsistency of ordinary least squares for the linear probability model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 321-327, March.
    6. Jo Danbolt & William Rees, 2008. "An Experiment in Fair Value Accounting: UK Investment Vehicles," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 271-303.
    7. Choudhary, Preeti, 2011. "Evidence on differences between recognition and disclosure: A comparison of inputs to estimate fair values of employee stock options," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 77-94.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    9. Dechun Wang, 2006. "Founding Family Ownership and Earnings Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 619-656, June.
    10. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    11. Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Complex Ownership Structures and Corporate Valuations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 579-604, April.
    12. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    13. Paquita Y. Davis†Friday & Chao†Shin Liu & H. Fred Mittelstaedt, 2004. "Recognition and Disclosure Reliability: Evidence from SFAS No. 106," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 399-429, June.
    14. Robert Libby & Mark W. Nelson & James E. Hunton, 2006. "Retracted: Recognition v. Disclosure, Auditor Tolerance for Misstatement, and the Reliability of Stock‐Compensation and Lease Information," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 533-560, June.
    15. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    16. Francis, Jere R., 2004. "What do we know about audit quality?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 345-368.
    17. Karl A. Muller III & Edward J. Riedl, 2002. "External Monitoring of Property Appraisal Estimates and Information Asymmetry," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 865-881, June.
    18. Karl A. Muller, III & Edward J. Riedl & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2011. "Mandatory Fair Value Accounting and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the European Real Estate Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(6), pages 1138-1153, June.
    19. Sunder, Shyam, 2002. "Regulatory competition for low cost-of-capital accounting rules," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 147-149.
    20. A. Quagli & F. Avallone, 2010. "Fair Value or Cost Model? Drivers of Choice for IAS 40 in the Real Estate Industry," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 461-493.
    21. Steven J. Carlson & Chenchuramaiah T. Bathala, 1997. "Ownership Differences and Firms' Income Smoothing Behavior," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 179-196, March.
    22. Sunder, Shyam, 0. "Adverse effects of uniform written reporting standards on accounting practice, education, and research," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 99-114, March.
    23. Richard Dietrich, J. & Harris, Mary S. & MullerIII, Karl A., 2000. "The reliability of investment property fair value estimates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 125-158, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mehnaz, Laura & Rahman, Asheq & Kabir, Humayun, 2023. "Covenant violation concern and investors’ pricing of Level 3 fair value adjustments," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    2. Olante, Maria Elena & Lassini, Ugo, 2022. "Investment property: Fair value or cost model? Recent evidence from the application of IAS 40 in Europe," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    3. Dominika Hadro & Karol Marek Klimczak & Marek Pauka, 2017. "Impression Management in Letters to Shareholders: Evidence from Poland," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 305-330, September.
    4. Nemanja Karapavlović & Vladimir Obradović & Jasmina Bogićević, 2020. "The Use Of Historical Cost And Fair Value For Property And Plant And Equipment Measurement – Evidence From The Republic Of Serbia," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 65(227), pages 95-118, October –.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sundgren, Stefan & Mäki, Juha & Somoza-López, Antonio, 2018. "Analyst Coverage, Market Liquidity and Disclosure Quality: A Study of Fair-value Disclosures by European Real Estate Companies Under IAS 40 and IFRS 13," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 54-75.
    2. Khosa,Amrinder & Ahmed,Kamran & Henry,Darren, 2019. "Ownership Structure, Related Party Transactions, and Firm Valuation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108492195, January.
    3. Guedhami, Omrane & Pittman, Jeffrey A. & Saffar, Walid, 2009. "Auditor choice in privatized firms: Empirical evidence on the role of state and foreign owners," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 151-171, December.
    4. Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2012. "Earnings management and ownership structure: Evidence from France [Gestion des résultats comptables et structure de l'actionnariat : le cas français]," Post-Print hal-02156592, HAL.
    5. Chen, Ching-Lung & Weng, Pei-Yu & Fan, Hung-Shu, 2023. "Exploring the role of excess control rights on real earnings management in family-controlled firms," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    6. Alexander Merz, 2020. "Expensing performance-vested executive stock options: is there underreporting under IFRS 2?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 461-493, April.
    7. Giovanna Gavana & Pietro Gottardo & Anna Maria Moisello, 2019. "What Form of Visibility Affects Earnings Management? Evidence from Italian Family and Non-Family Firms," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Saghi-Zedek, Nadia & Tarazi, Amine, 2015. "Excess control rights, financial crisis and bank profitability and risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 361-379.
    9. Gur Aminadav & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Corporate Control around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1191-1246, June.
    10. Chan Lyu & Desmond Chun Yip Yuen & Xu Zhang, 2017. "Individualist-collectivist culture, ownership concentration and earnings quality," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 23-42, April.
    11. San Martin-Reyna, J.M. & Duran-Encalada, Jorge A., 2012. "The relationship among family business, corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from the Mexican stock exchange," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 106-117.
    12. Hsin-Yi Chi & Tzu-Ching Weng & Guang-Zheng Chen & Shu-Ping Chen, 2019. "Do Political Connections Affect the Conservative Financial Reporting of Family Firms?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-20, October.
    13. Yves Mard & Sylvain Marsat, 2011. "Gestion des résultats comptables et structure de l'actionnariat : le cas français," Post-Print hal-00650550, HAL.
    14. Le Ma & Peter Wells, 2024. "Evaluation of Fair Value Relevance and Sensitivity to Valuation Assumptions," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 60(3), pages 419-445, September.
    15. Andy Lardon & Christof Beuselinck & Marc Deloof, 2019. "Does stable ownership create value? Evidence from the global financial crisis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 573-642, February.
    16. Zhong, Ruohan & Li, Yanxi & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Multiple large shareholders, control contests, and forced CEO turnover," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    17. Miranda Tanjung, 2020. "A cross-firm analysis of corporate governance compliance and performance in Indonesia," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 621-643, February.
    18. Chinmoy Ghosh & Mingwei Liang & Milena T Petrova, 2020. "The Effect of Fair Value Method Adoption: Evidence from Real Estate Firms in the EU," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 205-237, February.
    19. Edmans, Alex & Holderness, Clifford, 2016. "Blockholders: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 11442, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Gutiérrez, Luis H. & Pombo, Carlos, 2009. "Corporate ownership and control contestability in emerging markets: The case of Colombia," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 112-139.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:acceur:v:13:y:2016:i:1:p:1-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAIE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.